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This is NOT an ECL+0 race. A race that can breathe underwater, with a burrow speed, a swim speed, and a +2 to natural armor is at least +1 ECL, regardless of the lack of any ability adjustments and the water-dependant drawback. Still, cool idea.
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Arcane Conduit: Elite Studies - Volume 1 presents a new prestige class D&D/D20 Fantasy by Rodney West and published by Primal Urge Games. It is a nine-page product (six after cover and OGL) with a lovely piece of cover art by Dave Caspall but otherwise un adorned, there is quite a bit of white space but the font size is small and it is all neatly organized with both landscape and portrait layout versions included.
The product opens with a short fiction piece displaying the talents of an arcane conduit, a nicely done piece that gives a good idea of the abilities of the class. Next it moves onto the prestige class itself which is designed for talented spontaneous arcane spell-casters. The class has poor combat abilities but better than a wizard hit dice, however it is in the field of magical support that this class shines. As the name indicates, members of this class act as a conduit for friendly spells, giving them additional range and, potentially, power. As the arcane conduit gains expertise with their abilities, i.e., higher levels, they can add to the DC, add metamagic feats and other tricks to the spells they conduit.
A good section on how to roleplay arcane conduits, their place in a game world and way to adapt them to various campaign worlds round out the product. An example character would have been a good addition but everything that is needed to use the class is here.
The Arcane Conduit is a well written and useful addition to the range of arcane classes. While this reviewer thinks that the DC bonus they provide to a spell they conduit should be limited by their class level, otherwise it seems a very well written and balanced class.
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There's a good amount of well-written detail and quality design here for a psionic race of extraplanar origin that could provide some intrigue to a campaign spending time in the male-dominated desert cultures with which they prefer to coexist. By their nature I think the lidaem are only likely to appear on a limited basis.
One thing I'd like to see added to this line, as a general comment, would be an Adventure Hooks section.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Though I don't care much for the idea of a religous caste/subrace of crab people, I can't say that this is a bad product. If you liked previous entries in the Emerging Forms line and want a religous race for aquatic environments, this is for you.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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At first I didn't like these people but they have grown on me. Like the others in this subseries, the Vae Rdin are crab people. They are Small and have racial abilities that revolve around interacting with others. I consider them an interesting addition to aquatic/near shore locations.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Monkish crab people is the best way I can describe the Ith Wra. Their racial abilities revolve around perfecting themselves. The only negative aspect is their requirement for live food (so interacting with them maybe a bit gory). Like the other two in this subseries, I consider them an interesting addition to an aquatic/near shore location.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Egotistical crab people is the best way I can describe the Ka Ngrej. Being the base race for several subraces, they do not have many racial abilities and are built for combat. If you want warrior or fighter based aquatics, these are the creatures for you.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Another great NPC from the "Renowned Figures" series.
I found Bebil to be a very interesting character. From his start in a family trade of 'questionable moral values', it's interesting to watch him grow and change over the years. His life experiences are well detailed, and his reactions shape his goals and motivations over the years. As a DM it's easy to "get inside his head" and run him as an NPC, because he is so well detailed and well thought out. You know how he would be thinking at any point in time, because you know what he's been through and how he feels about it.
Bebil makes either a great addition to adventuring parties, or a great source of spell components for your arcane casters in need.
A good addition to any NPC library, I am pleased and found this worth the money.
PS: Although this is the first book in the "Renowned Figures" series, I actually read it after reading book 2 (Olin Van Gausst, Lich Bane). I'd encourage you to check out that book as well.
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<b>LIKED</b>: The detailed level progression chart matches well with his history, creating a very plug-and-play NPC you can drop into any campaign, and world setting, at any level.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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This free product is a brief synopsis of the first 13 races found in the Emerging Forms line from Primal Urge Games.
If you are not sure which race is useful for your campaign this will help you.
If you like / play Settings like Dark Sun, Planescape,Talislanta or aquatic Settings in general you might even find all races useful.
I will will buy a few races for sure and maybe even all ot them.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: Very Good Artwork
And remember:
It is free! ;)<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Threre is no printer friendly version included.
But other products in this line have them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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The "Emerging Forms" series does a wonderful job of introducing new races with depth and color.
I picked this up because I was planning a desert trek as an upcoming adventure, and they are a desert based race. At purchase I was not aware this race was also Psionic, and I'm glad of that now because it may have stopped me from purchasing this otherwise excellent book (I run a non-psionic game).
I found this to be a fascinating read from cover to cover. Even if you're not running a desert game there is always some intesting intrigue that the Lidaem can be behind in most any large city. They are a very versitile and useful race, and a nice new addition to a game world.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: I found much inspiration in this book, both in adventure hooks related to their race and in the possibility of using the race as PCs.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Spell checking would have been nice, but perhaps I'm just being too picky?<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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The "Emerging Forms" series does a wonderful job of introducing new races with depth and color, and this is one of my favorites from the series.
This is a very "playable" race, it's great if you're considering an underwater campaign.
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<b>LIKED</b>: Racial detail is informative without being wordy, an interesting read from cover to cover.
Also nice to see a new underwater race.
<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Though their society was well described, I would have appreciated a bit more on wghat their typical home life was like.
<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Disturbing. Scary. Well Written.
This guy's a perfect villian. His history was a good read and very detailed, it really helps you understand his motivations through his life so you can effectively run him as an NPC. Heck, even if I wasn't a DM I'd have got this just for the entertainment value of a good read.
Well worth the money, very pleased!<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: I especially liked the detailed progressions of both abilities and personality through the years as he gained levels and progressed in knowledge. Easy to tailor him to use with any level of adventuring group. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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This series has really impressed me, on the whole. At first glance I questioned paying $2 for a single new race, but this is not just a pile of stats and feats. Each race in the series gives you 15-20 pages of information, ranging from background, to relations, to land and language, to game stats... it's all here. The depth is impressive without being overbearing.
The Euqsam are a sort of parasitic revenge-of-the-plants kind of race. They have some very sci-fi remniscient qualities (certain aspects invoked images of the breeding methods from "Aliens" or even the human-farms in "The Matrix"). In many ways they could be seen as scary, or even downright evil... but from their own point of view, things are quite different.
Oddly enough, they are a very playable race under the right circumstances, and at the least would make a fascinating NPC race in any world that's not completely devoid of vegetation.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: Most everything. I really can't say much negative about most of the titles in this series. They really have proven almost universally to be worth the money.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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I simply can't say enough good things about this highly original and well-written series. Any individual race from the series may or may not fit in to a given campaign world as a playable race, but almost all make at least intriguing NPC species. The format and style make them easy to read, the technical aspects are comprehensive, and there is not a bit of skimping on background lore and history, making each race imaginative and distinct.
The Thorezan themselves are an aquatic race... one of several that this series has produced (which is nice, since underwater options in most campaign worlds are drastically limited). They can easily be used as a playable or NPC race, and could be an interesting way for a DM to introduce important lore or history into a campaign.
I highly recommend not only the Thorezan, but any race from the Emerging Forms line. If you look at their list and see one that intrigues you, don't hesitate to take the leap. I really don't think you'll be disappointed.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: As someone who doesn't even use a D20 system (I buy the cool D20 products and convert them), I fell in love with the imaginative descriptive depth behind these races. They are full of flavor, without being so explicit as to make it difficult to drop them into most worlds.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I honestly had no complaints.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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As someone who prefers to not include a ton of standard "+" type enchanted items in my games, I love to incorporate things like special materials and the like. The materials themselves were thus very convenient to me, but what I liked best about this product was the history, description, and information about the Encyclopedia itself. In a world where knowledge really can become power (you'll have to be the judge of the world in which you play), this could be an exciting treasure indeed.
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<b>LIKED</b>: Overall, I liked the content of the product. I thought it was very imaginative, and while it may not prove useful to every campaign world or DM, it certainly provides what it advertizes... so you'll be getting what you paid for.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There were a lot of editing (or lack of editing, apparently) errors. It made understanding parts of the book lore particularly difficult. Also, my printer struggled with producing a hardcopy from the format they used, so bear that in mind if you tend to want to produce such a thing after downloading.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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